Every Naval EC game has that moment:
It happens between randoms, but also between friends and squad mates. Sometimes it turns into drama that lasts longer than the match.
I wanted to break down why “kill stealing” in War Thunder – especially Naval EC – is mostly a feeling, not a real mechanical problem, and how we as a community can handle it better.
1. How the game actually works
War Thunder doesn’t really use a pure “last hit gets everything” system in naval:
- Each enemy ship has a reward value.
- That value is split mainly by damage done (crew loss).
- The final hit gives only a small bonus.
So:
On top of that:
- You still get assists and SP for damage.
- Spawn Points (SP) in EC come from damage, kills, assists and objectives – not just last hits.
- In squads, if you’re near each other, you also get Teamwork / proximity bonuses when a mate kills something.
So when someone “steals” your kill, what usually happened is:
- You lost a small last-hit bonus and a scoreboard skull,
- But you kept most of the actual SL/RP for the work you did.
2. Why it still feels so bad
A few human things make it feel worse than it really is:
- Ownership illusion – “I shot it first, so it’s my ship.”
- Stat culture / ego – K/D and top-of-team obsession.
- UI focus on kills – the kill feed is flashy, damage numbers and reward splits aren’t.
- EC fatigue – long games + expensive ships makes each kill feel like a giant payday.
Put that together and normal focus fire looks like “kill theft”.
3. Naval EC is supposed to be focus fire
Naval EC is not a duel mode:
- Up to 16 players a side
- Big maps, long ranges, very tanky ships
- Ports, convoys, carriers, tickets, long match times
In that environment, the correct play is usually:
If three of you are deleting a Prinz Eugen that’s pushing a cap, nobody “owns” it. You’re all doing the right thing.
Most of what gets called “kill stealing” is actually just:
- Multiple teammates shooting the same high-priority target
- The game doing what it’s designed to do: reward damage first, last hit second
4. Real kill stealing vs imagined kill stealing
Does real kill stealing exist? Yeah, sometimes:
- People who ignore full-HP threats and only shoot burning 1-shot targets
- Players who let you tank all the risk and then pop one shell in at the end to pad K/D
That’s lame – but it’s nowhere near as common as the chat suggests. Most “kill steals” are just normal, healthy focus fire.
5. Some simple Naval EC etiquette
If you want less drama and better games:
For individual players:
- Expect shared targets – you’re almost never the only one shooting.
- Aim for threat priority, not “I tagged it first.”
- Want more kills? Improve aim, ammo choice and target selection – not rage in chat.
- Look at the end-of-battle rewards: often your SL/RP is fine even if your kill count isn’t huge.
- Never TK or grief over a “stolen” kill. That’s how you get reported and nobody wants you in their squad.
For squads / EC groups:
- Call focus fire: “All guns on that Baltimore at C3” etc.
- Celebrate shared deletes instead of whining over who got the line in the feed.
- Build culture around damage, objectives and winning, not just the kill column.
TL;DR
- Naval rewards are damage-based, not last-hit based.
- You usually still get most of the SL/RP even if someone else gets the kill popup.
- In Naval EC, focus fire is normal and necessary.
- Real kill stealing exists, but it’s way rarer than the drama suggests.
- If we want Naval EC to live, we need less ego, more cooperation, and to stop treating every shared target as a personal robbery.